Ultrabroadband Midinfrared Pump-Probe Spectroscopy Using Chirped-Pulse Up-conversion in Gases

Abstract

We demonstrate ultrabroadband and ultrafast midinfrared (MIR) pump-probe spectroscopy by employing the chirped-pulse up-conversion technique with four-wave difference-frequency generation in a gas. The full spectra of the MIR probe pulses, which spread from 200 to 5000 cm(-1), are recorded on a single-shot basis. We apply this MIR pump-probe spectroscopy to measure the ultrafast carrier dynamics of an intrinsic germanium crystal wafer. Ultrafast reflectivity change induced by the excitation of carriers is observed in the region from far to near infrared. The behavior of the reflectivity-change signals at each delay time is explained by the Drude model.